‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ Eyes a $50 Million-Plus Opening

Variety.com: Tom Cruise’s mission, should he choose to accept it, is to steal the box office crown.

Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” looks to easily win the weekend, where the franchise’s sixth installment is eyeing a North American debut between $50 million and $65 million.

Stellar reviews could help “Fallout” land a series-best domestic launch. That title currently belongs to “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,” which opened with $55.5 million in 2015. The highest-grossing iteration is “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” ($694.7 million), followed by “Rogue Nation” ($682.7 million), and Mission: Impossible 2″ ($546.4 million). Combined, the series has earned over $2.7 billion globally.

Due to production delays stemming from Cruise breaking his foot on set, “Fallout” is by far the most expensive film in the series with a $178 million price tag. The studio is hoping for an overseas boost when the movie opens this weekend in 36 international markets, including the United Kingdom, Russia, and Spain. It doesn’t bow in Japan until August, and a release date for China hasn’t been announced yet. As the last franchise release of the summer, “Mission: Impossible 6” should have significant playing time in North America without much direct competition.

Cruise, returning as cunning globe-trotter Ethan Hunt, reunites with Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Michelle Monaghan, Sean Harris, and Alec Baldwin. A mustachioed Henry Cavill joins the cast, as do Angela Bassett and Vanessa Kirby. “Rogue Nation” filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie returned to helm, making him the first person to direct more than one movie in the series.

The action film, which shot in France, England, New Zealand, Norway and United Arab Emirates, sees Hunt and the Impossible Mission Force team join forces with CIA assassin August Walker (Cavill) to prevent a global nuclear attack.